One of the biggest surprises ever in judo: Wieneke vs Adams

There are many classic or standard combinations that judoka around the world use regularly. Uchimata into ippon-seoi-nage is not one of them. In fact, very rarely do you see such a combination. Yet, it was precisely this combination that resulted in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic judo history.

At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, former World Champion Neil Adams (GBR) was the odds-on favorite. Adams had lost the World title in 1983 to Japan's Nobutoshi Hikage but as it turned out, it wasn't Hikage who would be in Los Angeles.

Hikage had lost out to Hiromitsu Takano in a domestic competition, so it was Takano who would be in LA. Takano was not as experienced as Hikage when it came to international competitions, so it was thought that he would be less of a challenge to Adams than Hikage.

As it turned out. Adams didn't even have to fight Takano, as the Japanese player was unexpectedly beaten by 22-year old Frank Wieneke of West Germany. Wieneke was a relative unknown but he was on a roll that day, and made it all the way to the final, where he would meet Adams.

This was expected to be but a formality as Adams was far and away, the more accomplished player. Adams managed to knock Wieneke down several times but failed to get a score. It did seem though like it was just a matter of time before he would land Wieneke on his back or at least on his side for a small score.

Wieneke had spent most of the match fending off the Briton's attacks when out of the blue, at the edge of the mat, Wieneke attacked with a one-handed uchimata which Adams fended off very easily. However, in that brief moment when Adams relaxed right after foiling the uchimata, Wieneke dropped underneath him with a very low ippon-seoi-nage that sent Adams flying.

It was debatable whether Adams had actually landed flat on his back, and Adams would later say he didn’t think it was an ippon. But the impact of the throw was undeniable. There was a loud thud that reverberated across the stadium. The referee called "ippon" and with that, Wieneke had created one of the biggest upsets in judo history.